Happy Quitting

Giving up smoking improves mood within two weeks, reports Christopher W. Kahler, research professor at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. He and his colleagues studied 236 people in a 26-week smoking-cessation program. Many never quit, and their mood slipped gradually. Among those who were intermittently abstinent (33 percent), mood improved in the weeks they didn't smoke. And for the 13 percent who stayed smoke-free, psychological functioning was consistently high. The findings counter the belief that quitting is inevitably a bleak sacrifice for one's health, the researchers say.